Sewage Haulers’ Priorities Differ From Fairfax County on Relocating Dumping Site

Fairfax County is continuing to contemplate moving the Colvin Run septage disposal site a few miles away to Hunter Mill Road, but their concerns are not necessarily the same as the haulers who make about 6,000 annual trips to the dumping tank.

County officials said in February they are considering closing the Colvin Run site, in operation for more than 40 years, and building a new one at Lake Fairfax Maintenance Area 6, a county-owned parcel on Hunter Mill Road on the Reston/Vienna border. The Colvin Run site is one of two in the county.

The county has 21,000 homes that are on septic tank and not public sewers. Those septic tanks must be cleaned out every five years, with waste hauled to Colvin Run or the Norman Cole site in the south end of the county. The septage sites are also used for restaurant grease disposal and portable toilet cleanout.

The officials say the Colvin Run site, which gets 6,000 visits annually (or about 22 trips per day), is outdated, its smells, and has a pipe too small to accommodate waste. It is also in a flood area and there is no way for trucks to turn around.

The county looked into the move after a handful of Colvin Run-area residents complained.

But the potential for the Reston-area site has many residents on this side of Route 7 very upset. Some of their concerns came to light at a community meeting six weeks ago. Among them: increase in traffic on Hunter Mill Road, which already can’t handle trucks going over a one-land bridge; proximity to home and a stream; concern that the septage dump stay closer to the 21,000 homes it serves, mostly in Great Falls and Oakton; and irritation that the move was presented as almost a done deal rather than a community input session.

The county says it researched six area sites, including renovating Colvin Run, for a new facility. The criteria: Proximity to a 30-inch sewer pipe; off a major road; outside of a floodplain; away from public use (but on county land); and an available footprint to build a secure, odor-controlled facility where trucks could drive in a loop rather than have to back up to leave.

Meanwhile, the report also sent surveys to the 48 registered hauling companies. Here is what the haulers said were their preferences and priorities:

76 percent said it was very important to have the Colvin Run site. Only 32 percent said the Norman Cole site, which serves the south end of the county, was important.

86 percent said it was important to have septage receiving in Fairfax County.

They are not hauling much waste from Reston. The largest portion — 29 percent — comes from Great Falls/Hunter Mill. The Clifton and Lorton areas each had 21 percent and 16 percent respectively. Haulers said 12 percent was coming from Loudoun County and 9 percent from DC. Overall, at least 20 percent of the waste being discharged at Fairfax County sites may originate from other jurisdictions.

Haulers were asked the question: If Colvin Run Closed, how far would you be willing to travel to another site?

2 miles – 15 percent

5 miles – 31 percent

10 miles – 23 percent

15 miles – 4 percent

20 miles or more – 27 percent

The sewage handlers had a variety of opinions on what makes a facility more or less desirable to use. The key preferable features were:

Easy access

The ability to pressurize the tank while discharging washdown stations

Restrooms

All of these features, aside from restrooms, are available at the existing Colvin Run site. Conversely, sewage handlers did not prefer facilities that have:

Requirement to turn the truck around

Long wait times

Restricted hours

Gravity discharge

High fees

Non-central location

Lack of snow removal in winter

County officials are finishing up a public comment session, and also told citizens it would look into other area sites that could be more convenient to Route 7.

We must keep the sewage far enough from RTC that the stink doesn’t detract from its elite status!

Guest

I was thinking we could put it in that empty lot across from the Best Buy plaza. Then all the sh*t would be in one place–RTC.

Mike M

But, but, it’s an ELITE stink.
From elite bottoms!

Big Blue Biscuit

As the Hazen report makes very clear, the current Colvin Run facility shares a site with sewage pumping station which is currently undergoing a strategic $7m refurbishment and any traffic concerns raised by the neighbors (who built their houses next to a septage point that had been in use since the 70s) are being addressed in the Route 7 plan which also moves the trail etc.

Bizarrely, despite being the architects and engineers for the pumping station project, they completely forgot to mention it at the public meeting – even though the building is a few feet up the access road. If you don’t like where the disposal point is, move it up the access road next to the building – there’s even plenty of parking space for tankers

The whole proposal to relocate the disposal point is a farce.

Seriously, even the gold plated upgrade proposed for the Colvin Run site (which has worked perfectly well for decades – well except from the fact that the the county didn’t realize until last year that Loudon was dumping its waste there because it was so cheap) is best part of a million dollars cheaper than the proposed relocation to Hunter Mill.

That’s before you even get to what a stupid idea putting this on the congested Hunter Mill Road, close to the stop line and backed up traffic for the one land bridge and the popular bike crossing, is.

The only explanation that seems to make sense is that a small number of wealthy Great Falls residents saw this as an opportunity to improve their vistas and increase the value of their houses by complaining to the county and getting it moved into someone else backyard – or, as it turns out, into a popular public park.

Yet again, its one rule for Great Falls and one for the rest of us

The first question that comes into your head when you read the report is “why didn’t the supervisors just shoot this ridiculous proposal in the head immediately?” The second would be why a supposedly professional firm such as Hazen would get themselves mixed up in a politically motivated train wreck like this.

And Cathy’s surprised when residents are angry about their attempt to ram this though?

What are Hazen and the BoS smoking?

Chuck Morningwood

South Reston already has one open sewer. Reston, on the whole, doesn’t need another one.